A serious disappointment from Winker, coming fourth of five in a race that was several leagues below the class of race he was running in last year. It’s hard to know what to think – his most recent work on the gallops had been exceptional (Alan, who is generally quite pessimistic, described it as proper group 1 work). We’ve found no …
Happy Easter
Back from my hols and raring to go. It was a nice relaxing break – the farm is a building site at the moment and the weather is a long way below Portuguese standards but it’s nice to be back all the same. It’s a big and important week for the horses. Winker and Maxwell Hawke go today at Warwick. …
Best fresh
I’ve been in Portugal for a week now with the family and my mother-in-law. The weather’s great and we’re all having a good time. The news from home starts with one real tragedy. Astrodome had an accident on the gallops – he struck into himself, severing two tendons including his digital flexor tendon. There was nothing to be done – he …
Asbo
My house is a building site at the moment – they’re working in half of it and we’re living in the other half. The whole place is covered in brick dust – it seems that no matter what we do to keep the dust out it finds a way through. The highlight of the week occurred a couple of days …
Grace and Beauty
A day of sport for me yesterday. I spent the morning with the children. We have a couple of extras with us at the moment as one of the mothers at school had an accident with her 2yo boy – he fell out of a climbing frame and broke his femur. He faces two weeks in traction and morphine injections – …
Haighgate
I’m not right at the moment – I’ve had a headache for about ten days and I’ve got blood in my nose. Today is the first time in a while that I’ve felt properly human, although the headache is still just hanging in there – it started when I came off the beta-blockers. I need to get this sorted once …
A force to be reckoned with
No good today with Lilac. I thought she looked a little burly beforehand – she led for most of the race but went out like a light. Richard said she tried to change her legs five or six times during the race. It was probably down to lack of fitness – we’ll know more tomorrow. Lilac had really filled out …
Clean pair of heels
Good and bad news on the mares. Baldovina has been scanned in foal to Red Clubs. Park Acclaim was scanned in foal to Kyllachy, but has re-absorbed the foetus . It’s not uncommon – she needs to be covered again now. Shawhill has been covered by Selkirk and we wait to hear the result. Astrodome is well and runs on either …
Friday 13th part 2
A good if slightly overlong week with some excellent races to savour. I had big bets on Starluck in the Triumph and Tatenen in the Arkle, both failing, but I made the ground back on a few lesser races and finished nicely up for the week. Kauto Star did the business again and reminded us all what a star he truly is. …
Friday 13th part 1
A good day yesterday in most senses. I had a fair bet on Kayf Aramis, which put me right for the week. I decided not to bet in the two big races and lost a little money at the end of the day. It was a long beery social day in the great Cheltenham tradition. I crashed out late and …